One of America’s newest Muslim congresswomen is under fire for apparent anti-Israel remarks, but CNN doesn’t seem to be very interested in pressing her to explain them.

Back in 2012, Ilhan Omar posted a controversial tweet which called on Allah and appeared to call the Jewish nation “evil.” That’s an eye-opening statement from anyone, but particularly so now that Omar has been sworn in to Congress from her state of Minnesota.

“Israel has hypnotized the world, may Allah awaken the people and help them see the evil doings of Israel. #Gaza #Palestine #Israel,” she posted in a tweet that has not been deleted.

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To their slight credit, that post didn’t escape CNN, which brought it up to her on Thursday.

“You wrote Israel has ‘hypnotized the world,’” commented journalist Poppy Harlow. “I wonder what your message is this morning to Jewish-Americans who find that deeply offensive.”

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Omar’s response was to passive-aggressively scold CNN for asking the question, while simultaneously standing by her inflammatory remarks.

“That’s really a regrettable way of expressing that (question),” the representative shot back.

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She feigned cluelessness about how ranting about “the evil doings of Israel” might be a problem with Israeli or Jewish people.

“I don’t know how my comments would be offensive to Jewish-Americans,” Omar declared. “My comments precisely are addressing what was happening during the Gaza War.”

But then she doubled-down on the same kind of rhetoric by using the term “Israeli regime” to refer to America’s closest ally and friend in the Middle East.

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CNN could have followed up and pressed Omar on her inflammatory language — after all, calling a fellow democracy a “regime” is bizarre for an official representative of the United States government. But the network just shrugged it off, quickly moving to a different topic.

There are two items of note here. First is how quickly left-leaning networks change the subject once a liberal puts their foot in their mouth. There’s a clear double standard here: Imagine for just a second if President Trump tweeted about “the evil doings of Mexico” or any other friendly country, for that matter.

It would be national news, with CNN, MSNBC, and all the rest holding roundtable discussions about just how racist the president was.

Yet when a liberal lawmaker not only makes that comment about a U.S. ally but seems to defend it on national television, there’s no pressure. They simply accept her vague explanation as gold and move on.

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The final point is about Omar herself. It’s very telling that the freshman congresswoman seemed absolutely stunned that anybody might have a problem with her anti-Israel statement or dare call her out on it.

Like fellow newcomer Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, the Minnesota representative seems to expect a free pass on accountability, perhaps because she is a minority.

But as the left has been telling us for decades, a person’s gender or religion shouldn’t change how they’re treated — and that’s exactly why media outlets need to hold America’s representatives’ feet to the fire when they say something ridiculous, not go easy on them.

Benjamin Arie is an independent journalist and writer. He has personally covered everything ranging from local crime to the U.S. president as a reporter in Michigan, before focusing on national politics. Ben frequently travels to Latin America and has spent years living in Mexico.
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Benjamin Arie has been a political junkie since the hotly contested 2000 election. He attended Florida State University and informally majored in women’s studies, primarily the sorority on the other side of his dorm.
After giving rickshaw driving and nightclub management a go, Ben settled on journalism after realizing he could get paid to rant. He cut his teeth on car accidents and house fires as a small-town reporter in Michigan before becoming a full-time political writer.
Benjamin had a front row seat to the 2016 campaign circus while covering angry protesters and Donald Trump’s nomination at the GOP convention in Cleveland, which cemented his view that half of the country is insane. He has lived as an expat in Latin America, and enjoys piloting gliders and scuba diving when he can get away from the grind.